AL, circa 1700, a Friesland Sampler

New! This sampler is new to our collection.

From the style of the sampler we know that is was made in the northern part of Friesland and that itâ€™s from around the 1700â€™s as the entire sampler is stitched using long armed cross. The initials AF were probably those of her mother. Typical of the Friesland samplers are all the household furnishings and tools used in the kitchen. The Kas with the key beside it was an important piece of furniture and was the womanâ€™s domain. She would have carried the key on a chain around her waist. The wonderful bands with birds were all bands that can be found on collars of the shirts they wore as well as on the cuffs and on household linens. The early Friesian samplers usually only had nineteen letters in the alphabet as I and J were interchangeable and the others just werenâ€™t used. Marking clothing and linens was very important that is why we generally see so many alphabetts on a sampler. Linens were marked as they were sent out to the laundry and it would ensure you got the right ones back and clothing was marked as it helped identify bodies when people drowned. The bird at lower right is from Peter Quentelâ€™s pattern book and there is at least one other sampler that has the same bird with the initials DR, possibly a teacher.
Stitches used are long armed cross, double running stitch, satin stitch, cross stitch and a form of chain stitch. Stitch count 177 x 51